Housing market 'still on the boil'

Monday 4 March 2002 00:00 BST

PERSIMMON, the country's largest housebuilder, has provided fresh evidence of the continued strength of the housing market, boasting that current demand is strong across the board. Reservations for this year are also running ahead of target.

The company lifted profits by £84m to £188m for the year ended December, before tax and one-off items. That's at the top end of market forecasts. The figures have been skewed by the £610m takeover last year of rival Beazer. Persimmon is paying a total dividend of 13.7p a share, from 12.4p last time.

Average selling prices rose to £122,601 from £105,307, with prices rising an average 11% in the north, 9% in the south. Persimmon sold 12,051 homes last year, generated revenues of £1.48bn, compared with £740.8m a year earlier. Persimmon said it had already sold 5,351 so far this year, revenues worth £674m. Chairman Duncan Davidson said: 'The year has started very well, and we are confident of another good result in 2002.'

The group added that it expected an early improvement at Beazer's upmarket unit Charles Church following a management revamp. The group took a £12.8m charge for reorganisation costs. 'We remain on course to deliver the volume expectations we have previously indicated of some 1,000 units per annum by 2003,' Persimmon said.